This changes a default that has been here for ages without any reasonable argumentation and which is very convenient for people that are used to it. If you don't like it, go turn it off in your mc.ini, but don't force the others to turn it on instead to restore the original behavior.

By the way, if you just start typing over, the old text will disappear, so you don't even need any extra effort to type a new name.

This behaviour is only 13 months old (commit e3a82ba1d8585c458f030688c6364e4102c2cc13) and doens't look for me reasonable forcing almost every mc users to press CTRL+U (supposing that he knows this shortcut) to delete the filled name or to look for a configurable option. Indeed it seems for me this has no precedent in others filemanagers.

This could be implemented without a configurable option, but adding a new function, invokable by Shift+F6 for example.

I think I'll reopen this ticket, unless other developers confirm the WONTFIX.

OK, my bad, I didn't realize that it's been merged a year ago, because it's been here for ages in FAR. In what concerns the highlighting, this is the terminal color issue. If you have sensible options (e.g. making it the way it is in FAR) feel free to reopen.